Whinstone Boy will try to win the race off a 20lb higher mark than last year, but his latest third to Barker showed he is primed to run a big race.
His stable-mate
Whinstone Boy still needs 14 horses to come out above him in the handicap to get a run.
A real mudlark and sound jumper,
Whinstone Boy has raced only twice this season and ran an ideal prep race for this task when finishing third to Barker in a conditions event at Tramore on New Year's Day.
Campaigners fear Gillies' Hill in Cambusbarron, by Stirling, could disappear from the landscape under plans to quarry the site for
whinstone, used for road building.
The Howard Johnsontrained Abbeybraney was the last horse to make the cut, leaving connections of horses such as
Whinstone Boy and Chief Dan George disappointed.
The County Cork handler has already tasted Aintree glory, having saddled Monty's Pass to success in 2003, and is this year set to be represented by Conna Castle and
Whinstone Boy, providing the latter makes the cut.
Another Irish raider on course for Aintree is Jimmy Mangan's
Whinstone Boy - if he gets in.
Warwickshire's Andy Sullivan was knocked out but he went down only after a monumental struggle against Shane
Whinstone, the Knowle player who had led the first-day qualifier with a record score of 64.
(Coram Instruments, 37
Whinstone St., Coram, NY 11727)
The soil mix is made up of the soils found in the floor of an abandoned
whinstone quarry,
whinstone chippings and composted pine bark.
Bride and groom: Francesca Nellist, of Easterside, 31, and Chris Hindmarsh, of Thornaby, 35 Married at:
Whinstone View, Great Ayton When?